My point was that consumers voted out thousands of independents by taking service from incumbents instead of independents. Thousands have closed up shop. Where independents are available, it's still tough getting customers if the incumbents have a service that mostly works (over say 5 to 10 megs), even if the independent offers service comparable to the incumbent's advertisements.
In my neck of the woods, most independents only sold layer 3 services. and depended upon others for layer 2 services. The independents had a booming business with those conditions and consumers had an array of choices for ISPs. Then, the layer 2 operators started offering combined layer 2/3 services at a price point below the layer 2 only price needed to get to the independents. Unsurprisingly, the consumers flocked to the cheaper services. I've always felt if a company used a public right of way to reach a consumer, they should be prohibited from being a layer 3 provider. Or, at a minimum, they need to sell layer 2 services to themselves at the same price they charge others. I've known lots of people that would be happy to compete with the big boys under those circumstances.